November 10, (THEWILL) – The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory has set aside the contempt proceedings and all the orders of conviction for contempt against the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa.
THEWILL reported that an Abuja high court had on Tuesday, ordered the remand of the EFCC chairman over the failure of the anti-graft agency to comply with an earlier order of the court.
Chizoba Oji, the presiding judge, had ordered the inspector-general of police (IGP) to ensure that Bawa is committed to prison for disobedience to a court order.
The judge gave the order in the motion on notice filed by Adeniyi Ojuawo, Air Vice Marshal (now retired), against the Federal Government.
The judge held that Bawa is in contempt of the order of the court after the commission failed to return a Range Rover and the sum of N40 million to Ojuawo.
“Having continued willfully in disobedience to the order of this court, he should be committed to prison at Kuje Correctional Centre for his disobedience, and continued disobedience of the said order of court made on November 21st, 2018, until he purges himself of the contempt”, the judge said.
But in his reaction, Bawa had filed an appeal against the conviction order, pursuant to Section 6(6) (a) and Section 36(1) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), Section 91 of the Sheriffs and Civil Process Act, Cap S6 Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2004 and other relevant enactments.
He argued that he was not the EFCC chairman when the order was given in 2018.
Bawa further said that even when the order of the FCT High Court was given on November 21, 2018, three years before he became EFCC Chairman, he had released the Range Rover in question to the Applicant on the 27th of June, 2022, while the process of the release of the remaining N40m had also been approved.
In his ruling on Thursday, Justice Chizoba Oji set aside the conviction order.
According to the court, Bawa was not in contempt of court as he had complied with the order that the Respondent’s Range Rover be released and by several internal memoranda, the Applicant had initiated the commission’s internal mechanism to ensure the payment of the sum of N40, 000,000 to the Respondent.
